The ink is barely dry on the Pearson matriarch’s resignation letter and already reports emerge that the company is lining up bidders for the paper she would only sell “over my dead body”.

Pearson refuses to add fuel to the fire of the rumour that the Financial Times is, indeed, up for sale.

But a well-placed source tells me the deal “closest to the table” is a joint venture with Thomson Reuters, structured in a similar fashion to the recent merger of Pearson-owned Penguin and Random House, where Pearson retained a 47pc stake.

“The shrewd money is on that kind of arrangement,” says the insider, since the FT is apparently “obsessed” by keeping its editorial independence.

SFO toasts move to better times

The Serious Fraud Office has had a tough time of late.

The loss of face with the Tchenguiz brothers over the failed Kaupthing inquiry, the departure of director Richard Alderman and the savage cuts to its crime-fighting budgets - no wonder the watchdog is happy about this month's move out of its ill-starred HQ in Elm House on Elm Street in Farringdon.

The fraud-busters even threw a party last week, paid for by the staff, to toast their relocation to Cockspur Street.

The canapes also circulated past Lord Myners, who was complimented by a fellow guest on his svelte appearance. “It’s the suit,” explained the former chairman of M&S, going on to explain that it was from the retailer’s Savile Row Inspired collection by Richard James, no less.

How times change.

Just two days earlier, Myners had criticised the cut of the M&S cloth, lambasting current chief executive Marc Bolland after this week’s 10pc dip in profits for his company’s “disappointing” lack of momentum.